Beach, Bush, Gold Fields Aussie Apex Testing Video

[Jeff McClendon]

Aug 13, 2020 NQExplorers - In this video we test drive the all-new Garrett Mutli-Frequency, Multi-Salt APEX metal detector, overlanding more than 500km in three days from the salt water beaches of the Gold Coast to the highly mineralised goldfields of Queensland, Australia. The new machine proves to have outstanding salt water detection qualities (Multi-Salt mode) making it a superb beach machine, while Multi-Frequency hits big deep silver and 20kHz delivers on our small gold nugget in highly mineralised soil. At almost 40 minutes this video is a lot to take in so you may need salty snacks and some kind of refreshing beverage to get you through it.

Short cuts to each part of the video:
Beach: 0.00
Bush: 15:41
Goldfields: 33:02

Thanks for watching and subscribing and Happy Fossicking! Warren and Colleen.

 

[Jeff McClendon]

Pretty good video. I wish the testers multi frequency portion of the Gold Field testing had been included. Otherwise, that audio still sounds a lot like slow recovering AT Pro audio to me...........

I do really like the 5 tones, iron audio volume and all of the other really good features on the APEX. It still has me very interested.

[Steve Herschbach]

I can live with the not being waterproof. I can live with only 5 tones. At this point it’s the lack of a threshold based search mode that has me gritting my teeth. But I had that on the Gold Monster also and lived to tell the tale. 

[Jeff McClendon]

The lack of even a reference threshold tone bugs me for small nugget detecting in hot rock/iron trash too.

For those of you who like just the facts and no hype, this video is excellent. I just wish the prospecting part had been much longer. I am guessing Garrett edited this video also and not just the original video maker/tester.

[Steve Herschbach]

I’d like to have seen the nugget both on 20 kHz and Multi. It was Multi being better than any one single frequency on gold nuggets that ended up being a game changer with Equinox. I wonder if the same holds true with Apex? Does it’s multifrequency operation essentially obsolete the single frequency options, as has largely proven to be the case with Equinox? That one piece of information would say a lot about just how good the Garrett Multi-Flex really is. It can’t just be multifrequency... it has to be multifrequency that actually offers a performance benefit. As opposed to just doing MF for marketing purposes, but having it offer no clear advantage. I’m assuming the saltwater operation will easily show up a difference between the Apex and AT Pro or AT Max, but that has yet to be proven.

[Jeff McClendon]

The surf and wet beach portions of the video show how well the multi frequency and multi salt modes work quite clearly. The last time I had an AT Pro at a saltwater beach unless the sand was totally dry, it was a nightmare.

Multi frequency operation at the tailings pile would have said a lot. In 20 kHz it sounded a lot like the AT Gold with plenty of low ground mineralization/iron tone responses around the test nugget............which is a no go for me in anything but mild to moderate dirt with few hot rocks. Why didn't this video include the multi frequency testing at this location when the tester specifically mentioned that this would be shown in the video??????????? Multi frequency high mineralization/hot rock handling capabilities are the exact information that prospectors need when choosing a SMF detector for gold prospecting.

[kac]

AT Pro was tough to use in the salt, black sand made it useless up here. I wouldn't count dry sand as a test as that would be the easiest for any detector and almost borderline air test for that matter. Over all looks like a descent machine with descent audio.

Not really an option for me as I hunt more in all metal mode so I can hear the targets clearly.

[johnedoe]

4 hours ago, Steve Herschbach said:

I can live with the not being waterproof. I can live with only 5 tones. At this point it’s the lack of a threshold based search mode that has me gritting my teeth. But I had that on the Gold Monster also and lived to tell the tale. 

Glad you made it through the trial....

[GB_Amateur]

On 8/15/2020 at 2:21 PM, Jeff McClendon said:

I just wish the prospecting part had been much longer. I am guessing Garrett edited this video also and not just the original video maker/tester.

 

On 8/15/2020 at 3:01 PM, Steve Herschbach said:

I’d like to have seen the nugget both on 20 kHz and Multi. It was Multi being better than any one single frequency on gold nuggets that ended up being a game changer with Equinox.

I agree with both of you.  I thought the first two segments (beach detecting and coin&relic detecting) were pretty good.  I like them showing the detector in action, hearing the sounds, seeing the settings, and seeing the digital TID's.  I don't know Aussie soil except that I've heard a lot about its vicious mineralization in many locations.  He buried the threepence at 11 inches, ground balanced, and still got a good signal and decent DTID, particularly in Multifrequency which I thought sounded better than 5 kHz.

Being the skeptical type, I'm a bit concerned about both the shortness of the gold-field segment and the fact that he didn't emphasize MF in the field (or even show it) after he said he would.  I couldn't tell on the mullock heap what frequency he was using.

I'm not bothered much by KG and Ringy as some are, but these two are more my style, especially when I'm seeing a 'review' type video.  I suspect we've seen about as much as Garrett is willing to show as far as stressing the performance.  It's now time to see less biased reviews.  Hope we'll see some of those in the next month or so....  Detectival would likely have been revealing if it wasn't covid-19 cancelled.  Surely they would have showed it off there.  Maybe our anticipation will be satiated by that mid-September timeframe anway.

Maybe they are holding out many features & performance for their AT/Multi as some of you predict.  But this release also will give them a lot of feedback, not only on what people like and don't like, but even some performance stress testing under conditions that only the masses can provide.  It also buys them a bit more engineering time.

[Steve Herschbach]

On 8/17/2020 at 11:25 AM, GB_Amateur said:

Being the skeptical type, I'm a bit concerned about both the shortness of the gold-field segment and the fact that he didn't emphasize MF in the field (or even show it) after he said he would.  I couldn't tell on the mullock heap what frequency he was using.

It's a real stretch to think of the Ace Apex as a gold prospecting detector. In fact, the word "gold" does not appear in the target id menu at the top of the screen, and there is no "Prospect Mode." The detector has no threshold based all metal mode, but instead a silent search "accept everything" zero discriminate mode. So at best a person would have the "Zero" mode and use either Multi or 20 kHz as silent search nugget hunting options. Pretty basic stuff for gold prospecting, and so bottom of the list for things to emphasize. While I am sure I can find gold with the Ace Apex, I don't consider it as a serious gold prospecting option. But if I owned one I would not be deterred either from using it as such.